Choceň
Railways station · Pernerova 400, 565 01 Choceň, Czech Republic
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The mess tin of a dead enemy

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In May 1945, Felix Kolmer escaped from the labour camp in Friedland. Together with some other prisoners, he managed to get to Choceň, where they impatiently waited for the moment they would be able to go home by train. Felix Kolmer wanted to join a unit which was guarding the train station in Choceň as a volunteer, but given the fact that he had spent the past months in concentration camps, he was not recognized capable to fight with a weapon. On the night of May 8th 1945, the train station in Choceň was attacked by an armored train of the retreating German and Hungarian armies and fighting had begun. Felix Kolmer recollects the following about that night: “I hid under a bench, but this Hungarian had noticed me and started to run towards me with a bayonet. He was two or three steps away from me, and I knew that I could only expect the end. Suddenly somebody fired at him, he got a bullet in his head and fell to the ground. His mess tin fell from his hand and slowly rolled towards me. I have the mess tin until this day.” At the train station in Choceň Felix Kolmer was once again very lucky to survive, after having experienced the concentration camps of Terezín, Auschwitz, and Friedland, but this time as a free man.

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Prof. Ing. Felix Kolmer, DrSc.

Prof. Ing. Felix Kolmer, DrSc.

Prof. Ing. Felix Kolmer, DrSc. was born May 3, 1922 in Prague into a family of an Italian legionnaire and tradesman with electrotechnics. Influenced by his father's profession, he was interested in electrical technology since his childhood, and his future career path was clear to him - he would become an electrical engineer. After the father's death in 1932 he would usually spent summer holidays and Christmas with his uncle in Austria, where he watched the occupation of the country by Nazis. He was an eager and active scout. After the rise of Nazism, as a result of anti-Jewish repression he became a carpenter's apprentice. On November 24, 1941 he went to Terezín as a member of the so-called Aufbaukommando, where he worked on the ghetto construction, and later he witnessed the horrors taking place in the Small Fortress and also became a member of the underground movement there. His mother died in Terezín in 1941. On October 16, 1944 he was transported to Auschwitz, where he also saw smiling Dr Mengele sending people to gas chambers. By lucky coincidence he however managed to escape to the camp Friedland, where he survived till the end of the war. After that he was finally able to study and he eventually became a world-renowned expert on acoustics. He is one of the pioneers of this field in our country, he is active as a lecturer and he also authored and co-authored many works. He incessantly works on the process of recompensing the victims of Nazi terror. He has received several awards and decorations for this activity and for his academic achievements.

Choceň

Available in: English | Česky

The railways station Choceň lies on the main track from Prague to Česká Třebová, and it is the starting station on the railway Choceň-Vysoké Mýto-Litomyšl. The Neo-Renaissance station building was built in 1870s. On May 8, 1945 there was a conflict among rebels and recessive German army in the station. The rebels blew up a train filled with ammunition. The shock wave destroyed the buildings of the local heating plant. In 2010, the railway station was claimed the Most Beautiful Railway Station of the year, within the project of Association Entente Florale CZ.

Choceň

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The mess tin of a dead enemy

The mess tin of a dead enemy

Prof. Ing. Felix Kolmer, DrSc.
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